Operating System

Windows XP 64-Bit Edition

Technical Overview

By Brian Marr

Microsoft Corporation

Published: July 2001

This article introduces Windows XP 64-Bit Edition, a high performance workstation aimed at those engaged in solving complex scientific problems, developing high-performance design and engineering applications, or creating 3-D animations. The 64-bit edition is designed to exploit the power and efficiency of the new Intel Itanium 64-bit (IA-64) processor.

This is a preliminary document and may be changed substantially prior to final commercial release of the software described herein. The information contained in this document represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation on the issues discussed as of the date of publication. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented after the date of publication.

This white paper is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS DOCUMENT.

Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. Without limiting the rights under copyright, no part of this document may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), or for any purpose, without the express written permission of Microsoft Corporation.

Microsoft may have patents, patent applications, trademarks, 23323w2210x copyrights, or other intellectual property rights covering subject matter in this document. Except as expressly provided in any written license agreement from Microsoft, the furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property.

© 2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Win 32, Win64, Visual C++, Visual Studio, Windows, and Windows NT are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Microsoft Corporation . One Microsoft Way . Redmond, WA 98052-6399 . USA

Acknowledgements

Introduction 

User Scenarios 

Digital Content Creation

Mechanical Design and Analysis (CAD/CAM/CAE)

Financial

Benefits of 64-Bit Windows 

Large Memory Support 

Optimized for the Intel Itanium Processor Family

Floating-Point

Multiprocessing 

Single Desktop for Technical and Business Applications

Interoperability 

Familiar Environment 

Windows-based Solution 

Best Platform for the Next Generation of Applications

Same Programming 

Robust Development Tools 

ISV Commitment

Details 

Differences Between 32-Bit and 64-Bit Windows

System Requirements 

Distribution 

The Future of 64-Bit Computing 

Related Links 

Brian Marr, Microsoft Corporation.

Verna Felton, Microsoft Corporation.

The ever-expanding data needs of business, academic, engineering, and scientific organizations push the limits and the capabilities of existing information technology (IT) platforms. Today, gigabytes or even terabytes of data need to be accessed in real time by millions of users worldwide, and new technology is needed to meet this demand.

The 64-bit Microsoft^® Windows^® platform will provide high availability, advanced scalability, and large memory support based on the Intel^® ItaniumT processor family with its extensive multiprocessing features, powerful floating-point arithmetic extensions (up to 6.4 Gigaflops at 800 MHz when tuned for 3-D graphics performance), and multimedia-specific instructions.

The initial release of the Intel Itanium processor, previously code-named Merced, will primarily be deployed as a development and evaluation platform and by early adopter customers who are pushing the memory limitations of 32-bit systems. Customers using only 32-bit applications and not working with data sets larger than 2 gigabytes (GB) will find that 32-bit systems will continue to be the best environment for those applications.

Windows XP 64-Bit Edition and the Intel Itanium processor family are designed to address the most demanding business needs of today's Internet-based world, including e-commerce; data mining; online transaction processing; memory-intensive, high-end graphics; complex mathematics; and high-performance multimedia applications. Specific business segments that will benefit from the 64-bit Windows platform include the following:

Digital Content Creation

Two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) animation and rendering, video editing, and game development are three major areas of the Digital Content Creation (DCC) segment that will benefit from the additional memory, increased memory I/O speeds, and improved floating-point performance of Windows XP 64-Bit Edition on Intel Itanium.

Additional computing power allows game developers and animators to save time in rendering models or scenes. It also allows them to work with fully-rendered 3-D models, rather than a smaller wire frame representation of the model. The ability to view completely rendered models during the development process gives animators and developers the freedom to work at their peak level of creativity.

Mechanical Design and Analysis (CAD/CAM/CAE)

In areas such as automotive or aerospace design, engineers' ability to conceptualize designs while meeting stringent design safety requirements more quickly than their competitors is the key to their success.

Designers and engineers who use computer aided design and engineering applications find benefit in the large memory support, fast memory throughput, and improved floating-point speeds, due to the need for these applications to work with larger models in a shorter period of time.

Design of products such as automobiles and airplanes has also developed a marketplace for analysis tools with the ability to determine the effects of factors such as airflow, stress, and heat. These tools perform floating-point, intense, complex mathematical computations to determine the tolerances and characteristics of various materials. In addition, designers can develop real-world scenarios, such as a simulated crash, and apply the results to their models in an effort to improve product design.

Financial

In today's financial market, there has been an expansion of software and services due to the readily accessible online trading and personal banking provided by the Internet. This has created a dramatic increase in the amount of data that customers and financial institutions must analyze. Computer systems must perform nearly instantaneous floating-point calculations of large data sets when analyzing data and trends, performing pricing analysis, and executing trades.

Windows XP 64-Bit Edition allows these large data sets to be loaded into memory for rapid access by the processor. Since data in memory is accessed about 10,000 times faster than it is on a disk drive, analysis can be performed quickly. This data can then be represented visually in a detailed 3-D model, speeding the decision-making processes that banks and other financial organizations must make.

Windows XP 64-Bit Edition provides a scalable, high-performance platform for a new generation of applications based on the Win64^TM API. Compared to 32-bit systems, its architecture provides more efficient processing of extremely large amounts of data, supporting up to eight terabytes of virtual memory. With 64-bit Windows, applications can pre-load substantially more data into virtual memory to enable rapid access by the IA-64 processor.

Large Memory Support

Windows XP 64-Bit Edition supports up to 16 GB of RAM and 16 terabytes of virtual memory, enabling applications to run faster when working with large data sets. Applications can preload substantially more data into virtual memory, allowing rapid access by the Intel Itanium processor. This reduces the time for loading data into virtual memory or seeking, reading, and writing to data storage devices, thus making applications run faster and more efficiently.

Comparison of 64-Bit and 32-Bit Architectures

Optimized for the Intel Itanium Processor Family

Windows XP 64-Bit Edition has been optimized specifically for the Intel Itanium processor, and benefits from its key features, such as the Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing (EPIC) design. The EPIC instruction set, which differs from the IA-32 (x86) instruction set, enables Intel Itanium processors to perform up to 20 operations simultaneously.

Floating-Point

Windows XP 64-Bit Edition also takes advantage of the increased floating-point performance, or the raw number of calculations that can be processed in a given period of time, of the Intel Itanium platform. An 800-Mhz processor running at peak performance is capable of up to 6.4 GFLOPS-essential power for data-crunching scenarios such as Mechanical Computer Aided Engineering (MCAE) and financial operations.

More information about the Intel Itanium processor family is available at https://www.intel.com/itanium/

Multiprocessing

Windows XP 64-Bit Edition is designed to support up to two symmetric Intel Itanium processors for maximum performance and scalability.

Interoperability

Windows XP 64-Bit Edition provides a rich platform to integrate both 64-bit technical applications and 32-bit business applications using the Windows on Windows 64 (WOW64) x86 emulation layer. The WOW64 subsystem isolates 32-bit applications from 64-bit applications, preventing file and registry collisions. Both console and graphical user interface (GUI) applications are supported, as are service applications. The system provides interoperability across the 32/64 boundary for scenarios such as cut-and-paste operations and COM. However, 32-bit processes cannot load 64-bit dynamic-link libraries (DLLs), and 64-bit processes cannot load 32-bit DLLs.

While 64-bit hardware will be compatible with many 32-bit applications, 32-bit applications will perform better on 32-bit hardware. WOW64 is intended to run 32-bit personal productivity applications, enabling new levels of creativity and collaboration.

Familiar Environment

Windows XP 64-Bit Edition can be managed using the same tools as 32-bit Windows systems. Users will find their 32-bit Windows knowledge to be fully transferable to the 64-bit Windows environment. Setup, configuration, and administration will also be essentially the same. Users, system administrators, and helpdesk staff will find the 64-bit Windows user interface (UI) very similar to the 32-bit Windows XP UI. This allows organizations to standardize on one operating system for all their desktops, saving substantial amounts of money in management costs.

Windows-based Solution

Windows® provides the largest breadth of applications, hardware providers, and support partners, giving users more choices in how they create their solutions.

Same Programming Model

Developers with 32-bit skills will be comfortable and productive in the Windows on Itanium environment. Developers working on applications for 64-bit Windows will find the development environment virtually identical to the development environment for 32-bit Windows; the Microsoft Win64^TM application programming interface (API) is the same as the Microsoft Win32® API. The existing APIs have been modified where necessary to allow them to reflect the precision of the platform on which they are running. The result is programming simplicity and a short learning curve for the developer-writing code for 64-bit Windows is just like writing code for 32-bit Windows.

The 64-bit Windows development environment supports the same feature set as 32-bit Windows, including UI and programming models, networking, security, graphics, multimedia, directory service, Plug and Play, and tools features. Many of the functions have been modified to reflect the computational precision of the platform on which an application is run.

The result is simplicity and a short learning curve for the developer-writing code for 64-bit Windows is just like writing code for 32-bit Windows.

Robust Development Tools

Windows has the most robust development tools of any platform, making it easy to build the next generation of applications. A developer can set up the Microsoft Visual Studio® development system to build 64-bit applications instead of 32-bit applications, or create an integrated project in that builds both 64-bit and 32-bit binaries files. It is recommended that developers use 32-bit Windows and Microsoft Visual C++® on a Pentium computer to build 64-bit Windows executable programs.

The Platform SDK supports new data types that allow pointers and pointer-associated variables to reflect the precision of the platform. This means that developers can compile a single source base to run natively on either Win32- or Win64-based systems. The same source is both 64-bit source and 32-bit source. This strategy reduces the cost of developing applications for the 64-bit architecture. Simply build code in the 32-bit environment, then recompile it and test it in the 64-bit Windows environment.

ISV Commitment

Microsoft, Intel, and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partners have engaged with key independent software vendors (ISVs) in support of target user scenarios. Through Microsoft's Technical Beta Program, pilot systems from Intel, and the use of several remote 64-bit development labs, hundreds of ISVs have development of applications well underway. Microsoft's vision is to make a broad portfolio of applications available, including leading Microsoft applications, on 64-bit Windows.

Differences Between 32-Bit and 64-Bit Windows

The major differentiator between 32-bit and 64-bit Windows is in memory support. Currently, 32-bit Windows is capable of supporting up to 4 GB of system memory, with up to 2 GB of dedicated memory per process. Windows XP 64-Bit Edition will currently support up to 16 GB of RAM, with the potential to support up to 16 terabytes of virtual memory as hardware capabilities and memory sizes grow.

Customers will find some feature differences, but overall, 64-bit Windows includes a majority of the features that are included in 32-bit Windows.

System Requirements

Windows XP 64-Bit Edition requires a 64-bit motherboard and chip set, available through Intel and several OEMs.

Distribution

Windows XP 64-Bit Edition will be available with new Itanium systems from several OEMs. At the time of Itanium-based workstation availability, Microsoft will allow OEMs to ship a Microsoft-supported prerelease version of Windows XP 64-Bit Edition with Itanium systems. The operating system will be supported for 30 days after Windows XP is released, at which time customers must upgrade to the RTM version to receive continued support. An RTM version of the operating system may be obtained through customers' OEMs when available. Localized versions are available in English, French, German, and Japanese.

Windows XP 64-Bit Edition is the first step in 64-bit workstation computing from Microsoft. As data sets and memory requirements continue to grow, there will be an increasing demand for the capabilities of 64-bit Windows on Intel Itanium.

The Microsoft Windows XP 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems will be developed in tandem, providing customers with a full range of computing environments from which to choose.

Manageability, 64-bit support, and .NET:

https://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/techinfo/howitworks/overview/10manageability.asp

Intel Itanium processor:

https://www.intel.com/itanium/

Dell Precision Workstation 730 details:

https://www.dell.com/us/en/gen/products/model_precn_workstations_3_precn_730.htm

IBM IntelliStation Z Pro with Intel Itanium Processor:

https://commerce.www.ibm.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=1997565&cntrfnbr=1&prmenbr=1&cntry=840&lang=en_US&scrfnbr=&shoptype=D

HP Workstation i2000:

https://www.hp.com/workstations/products/itanium/i2000/summary.html

Getting ready for 64-bit Windows: 

https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?URL=/library/psdk/buildapp/64bitwin_410z.htm